Foothills Sexual Chocolate Imperial Stout

Brewed by Foothills Brewing
Style: Imperial Stout
Winston-Salem, North Carolina USA

Bottle 432/500; Shared at the first, semi-annual Ratebeer-Tucson tasting!
Pours into my 25cl tulip glass with a one finger thick, brown tinged head despite a vigorous pour. This is simply very black in color and completely opaque. A huge roasted aroma is noticeable as I pour this beer and a more focused inspection of the aroma yields a nose that has a strong, dark malt accent, with lots of roast character and even a touch of sharp burnt aromas. Towards the finish it reminds me a bit of burnt prunes, so much so that it almost seems like it is getting oxidized; this seems a bit weird to me for a beer this big and this young, but it wasn’t bottle conditioned, still I think it is most likely an artifact of the rich malt and not oxidation.

This beer is quite thick feeling as it hits my tongue, quickly though there is a huge roast character that provides lots of burnt acidity to the beer and, which ultimately offsets the thickness and even goes to thinning the beer out a bit more than I would like in an Imperial Stout. A chip full of bean-dip helps to accentuate a sweetness in the beer that helps to accent a touch of chocolate flavor that was lacking in this beer previously (the aroma is fairly light on any chocolate notes though). As the beer warms up it loses the acrid, burnt, roast and acid notes; smoothing out a bit and becoming more mellow. The chocolate is a bit more pronounced now and though still sharp with lots of roast-bitterness, it is much more tasty than it was at first.

This is one of those beers that really needs to breath and warm up before being consumed. I had almost written this off; some savory food paired with it seems to have helped the flavor nuances a bit as well.

Thanks to JCB for giving me bottle 218/500. Dark brown pour with a medium head. Cocoa was the first impression in the aroma, with the sweet cream, espresso and dark malt there, but not quite as obvious.

Taste was chocolate and espresso with some figs and prunes. Mostly sweet, but had some grassy hops finishing it off. Rich and chewy. I probably should have saved this a while; it would’ve made a great winter warmer.

pours a deep dark black with light tan head. huge aroma of biscuit and roasted malt. flavor is burnt malt and biscuit. med body not a long finish.

Thanks to decaturstevo for sharing this one! Opaque black pour that throws up a dark tan head. Coffee and dark chocolate aroma. The flavor follows the aroma. Very smooth, well done.

sampled with the phoenix crew. bottle 73/500 by way of gottalottaibu. viscous near black pour with a little bit of a tan head. rather sweet aroma of malty roasty grain, coffee, lots o’ chocolate and molasses. there’s a soy umami thing going on on the palate... flavors of soy, molasses!, black raisins, dark bitter chocolate tanginess and a hint of some light smokiness. coffee, molasses and chocolate lurk around in the aftertaste. smooth rich mouth feel with mild carbonation.

Bottle @ WSF 2008. Hazy dark with tiny brown head. Sweet nose with roastead malt, chocolate and caramel. Sweet flavor with hard roasted malt, chocolate, hops and caramel notes. Lovely complexity!

Bottle. Deep dark black in color with a disappearing tan head. Malty chocolatety roasty aroma. Fig and prune notes. Roasty toffee, molasses chocolatety flavor. Sweet tasting. Rich thick mouthfeel. Creamy. Full bodied. Finish is roasty. Nice beer.

22oz bottle@Hoboken#1-thanks maxxdaddy–pours a disappearing tan head and black color. Aroma is dark malt-chocolate, some dark fruit, acidic. Taste is dark malt-chocolate, some dark fruit, acidic, alcohol. Mild carbonation. Occasional.